Nook HD+ 16GB £69.95 (refurbished) Ebay Morgancomputers

"The Nook HD+ is a well constructed tablet with a fine screen and an appreciable weight advantage over its rivals. It may not look the prettiest, but we'd back it to go a year or two without picking up any noticeable bumps or nicks."

For

LightweightImpressive 9-inch HD screenGoogle Play access

Against

Poor custom UIUgly designSub-standard Nook Shop

Page 1 of 9Introduction

With the Nook HD, US bookstore giant Barnes & Noble entered the wide-open 7-inch tablet market, but with the 9-inch Nook HD+ it faces a single and much more daunting foe.

The full-sized tablet market continues to be thoroughly dominated by the device that defined it - Apple's peerless iPad. When even Google and its technically impressive Nexus 10 can't make an impression at retail, what hope does the Nook HD+ have?

Buy NOOK HD+ 16GB at Blackwell Books for £129

With a super-sharp 9-inch display, a slim and lightweight body, and a £229/US$269 full price tag for the 16GB version - or £269/US$299 for the 32GB model - Barnes & Noble certainly has some notable bullet-points to put on the box. But does the user experience match the raw specs?

Nook HD+ review

In that respect it needs to learn a few lessons from close rival the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9, which got the price and performance just about right, but failed as a full-fat tablet experience.

The Nook HD+ wins instant points for its unique design. While you'd struggle to pick an Amazon Kindle Fire HD from a lineup of budget tablets, here we have a device that sports a couple of key visual flourishes.

Nook HD+ review

Chief among these is the large hole-grip situated on the bottom left-hand corner of the tablet (in portrait view). It might be there to hook a lanyard through, but it also serves as a handy thumb-grip when handling the device, enabling you to get real purchase on it with a single hand.

Yes, unlike the iPad, this is a full-fat tablet that's light enough to hold in one hand - at least for brief periods. At just 510g (18oz), the Nook HD+ is almost 140g (5oz) lighter than the iPad 4. That's roughly the weight of an HTC One shorn from its body.

Nook HD+ review

This has been achieved, inevitably, through the heavy (or should that be light?) use of plastics, though that's not to say the Nook HD+ feels especially cheap. It's no iPad mini on the premium components scale, but it feels fairly firm in the hand.

We did get some disconcerting flexing and creaking when we applied a little two-handed pressure, but in general usage it's a reasonably solid construction.

Nook HD+ review

One slight negative from an aesthetic point of view is that typical bulging Nook bezel, which provides a raised ridge around the screen. With the aforementioned corner grip sitting flush with the screen, it makes the Nook HD+ look a little like a skinnier tablet that's been slid into some kind of protective bumper.

Still, the thick border aids handling, and will doubtless provide protection should you put the device down screen-first when in a hurry (shame on you).

Nook HD+ review

Around the back, the Nook HD+ has a pleasingly tactile matt finish that reminds us of the Kindle Fire HD range. Curiously, there's only one speaker grille here compared to the dual setup of the smaller Nook HD.

In terms of hardware buttons, the Nook HD+ benefits from a physical home key on the front, although the tiny n-shape doesn't feel as reassuringly clicky as Apple's iPad equivalent. But then, it only has two simple functions to fulfill - to wake the device up and to return you to the home screen.

Nook HD+ review

The other physical keys are even more vague, with the power button situated at the top of the right-hand side (again when held in portrait view), and the volume rocker just around the corner on the top edge, with a 3.5mm jack alongside.

These hardware keys are small and non-descript, and it takes a while until you can reliably hit them without having to look or feel around the edges.

One component that definitely punches above the Nook HD+'s weight is its 9-inch display. With a resolution of 1920 x 1280, it's virtually as sharp as the latest iPad's Retina display, and it's also remarkably clear.

Nook HD+ review

If you're used to the colder, bluish tinge of the iPad, you might find the tone of the display a little yellowish, but it makes for an easier text-reading experience (Nooks are, after all, ebook readers above all else) and isn't as pronounced as, say, the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7.0.

Finally, along the bottom of the device we have a proprietary 30-pin port rather than a universal micro USB port. If like us you love the fact that you can lug a single charger around for your Android tablet, Android phone and point-and-shoot camera, you'll find this particularly annoying.

Nook HD+ review

There is some good news to be found along the bottom edge of the Nook HD+ though, in the shape of a microSD slot. Yes, unlike the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9 and the iPad, you can expand the Nook's memory by up to 64GB relatively cheaply.

All in all, the Nook HD+ is a well constructed tablet with a fine screen and an appreciable weight advantage over its rivals. It may not look the prettiest, but we'd back it to go a year or two without picking up any noticeable bumps or nicks, which is more than can be said for any iPad we've owned.

Incredible price for this very capable tablet.The stock ROM is good for families (profiles) and most of the Play store works with it but it is a little awkward to use compared to CM11.Lots of heat!

1st Aug 2014

should i get his with CM11 or a nexus 7 2012?thanks.

1st Aug 2014

Bought this last time it was on and put cm11 on. Very easy to do and transforms this into a piece of kit worth far more money.

Fast browsing experience, all apps from play store that I have tried work flawlessly.

Would recommend installing nova launcher once cm11 on.

Hot hot hot!

1st Aug 2014

Even if you don't want the hassle of installing cm. The stock with nova launcher works great too

1st Aug 2014

For those who managed to put CM on it, how did you do it? I followed the instructions on the XDA developers site but couldn't for the life of me get it to boot from the SD card.

Have to say that even as standard though it's a great bit of kit with a brilliant screen.

1st Aug 2014

Ordered thanks OP, will sell my Tegra note 7 to part fund the purchase and who knows if it's any good I might even be tempted to sell my iPad mini as well

1st Aug 2014

ianteasdale

For those who managed to put CM on it, how did you do it? I followed the … For those who managed to put CM on it, how did you do it? I followed the instructions on the XDA developers site but couldn't for the life of me get it to boot from the SD card.

Probably need to try a different SD card, they are very picky. SanDisk 4GB is best. Alternatively try whatever you have, or can borrow, and persevere a little (try from reboot, from cold etc.) - you only need to get it to work the once to replace the stock recovery.

1st Aug 2014

Waqy

Better user interface and I think more apps available

It updates android to kitkat 4.4.4, giving the tablet a some serious speed optimisation over the old version of Android 4 that is installed as standard

1st Aug 2014

adam.mt

Probably need to try a different SD card, they are very picky. SanDisk … Probably need to try a different SD card, they are very picky. SanDisk 4GB is best. Alternatively try whatever you have, or can borrow, and persevere a little (try from reboot, from cold etc.) - you only need to get it to work the once to replace the stock recovery.

I used 2 different cards, both worked, a 4gb verbatim class 10 I bought on ebay for I think £2.25 delivered and my 32gb sandisk class 10 card

1st Aug 2014

Does it have a nightlight?

1st Aug 2014

Feeble

Does it have a nightlight?

maybe your thinking of the basic nook? not this.

1st Aug 2014

OOS now :0 (

1st Aug 2014

Listing Finished, OOS!!

1st Aug 2014

Awesome bit of kit for the money.

1st Aug 2014

Luckily I ordred one last night whilst in stock.

I have now gone to the Nook website to get some of the accessories that were reduced to £5 (namely a cover and spare PSU) but it seems all acessories have disappeared from the website.

Anyone else find it?

:-(

1st Aug 2014

scoobies

Luckily I ordred one last night whilst in stock.I have now gone to the … Luckily I ordred one last night whilst in stock.I have now gone to the Nook website to get some of the accessories that were reduced to £5 (namely a cover and spare PSU) but it seems all acessories have disappeared from the website.Anyone else find it?:-(

I ordered a case and spare charger on Monday but they are not there any more.

1st Aug 2014

I was lucky enough to get one of these when the deal first appeared. Great kit for the price. Solid, quality feel to it and running games like Dead Trigger 2 very smoothly for me. To those have problems installing CM11. I had to try 3 micro SD's before I finally got a Toshiba Class 4 8GB to work.

Some of the XDA guides say you just need to format the card and set the partition to active and copy over some files to get it to boot. I had no luck with that and ended up using the bootable image file from a posting with the title "Steps I took to get CM11 installed" (or something similar) - I think it was under the "General" section of the Nook Sub-forum rather than in the Android Development section (but don't shout if I'm wrong - I'm just working from memory here).

This makes it slightly more convoluted as the CWM in this image can't read other files from the SD- Card so you have to hook up the Nook to your computer with the USB cable while still running B&N firmware and transfer the permanent CWM recovery, CM11 Nightly and Google Apps zip files into the "internal storage" download directory.

Then you disconnect from the computer. Shut down the HD+, insert the micro SD card and restart. CWM should boot and you do a factory reset before selecting "install from zip" (navigating back to the internal download directory) and install recovery, then, CM11, then Google Apps, in that order. Reboot and "Bob's your Uncle!" -

Please understand that with this method B&N is banished forever and you have a CM11 tablet. There are instructions in the detailed XDA posting about backing up the B&N firmware so you can restore it if necessary. There are also other methods of making CM11 run purely from the Micro SD so you can dual boot B&N or CM11 as you want but I saw no point in dual booting so just made a backup (to be sure, to be sure) before zapping it.

Please also note - don't know if it makes a huge difference but I also followed the suggestion in the XDA thread and turned on ART rather than Dalvik in the developer settings. This may not make a huge difference in speed but as I said, my tablet is certainly running sweet and smooth with anything I've tried so far.

Ordered this and fancy stock android but looks a bit complex for a numpty and confused as to which CM is best/most stable...CM 10.1 10.2 or 11 an idiots guide/link if anyone can recommendMany thanks

1st Aug 2014

hibiscrub

Ordered this and fancy stock android but looks a bit complex for a numpty … Ordered this and fancy stock android but looks a bit complex for a numpty and confused as to which CM is best/most stable...CM 10.1 10.2 or 11 an idiots guide/link if anyone can recommendMany thanks

I'll second that!

1st Aug 2014

I've bought myself a Class 4 Toshiba 4GB MicroSD from here: mobymemory.co.uk/mic…tml Also got a Samsung 32GB card for good measure: mobymemory.co.uk/mic…tml (old version, but I don't mind as I'm going to be using the Nook mostly for my huge collection of books: reading them, especially comics, on a Note 2 isn't quite as nice as a tablet).

Is 4GB OK for installing CM11? I'm sure I read somewhere that 4GB+ Class 4 or 6 cards (Sandisk usually recommended) are best.

Download four files, install SD card imaging software, create image on SD card, copy two files over to SD card, insert and boot from SD card, press about five buttons, reboot, done. Takes about ten minutes for most people. A half hour to an hour if you're not the least bit familiar with the process and read through everything in detail, depending on your technical abilities.

Found this ...http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2317500but … Found this ...http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2317500but still unsure as to whether CM 10.1/10.2 or CM 11) and whether best for boot sd or replace stockmany thanks

I just don't understand that forum! the instructions just aren't as idiot proof as i need them to be - I'm a pretty big idiot!

1st Aug 2014

KRF1963

I ordered a case and spare charger on Monday but they are not there any … I ordered a case and spare charger on Monday but they are not there any more.

All the accessories have been purged from the nook gb site. A pity as they were quality cases at a cheap price.

CM11 is the latest Android Kitkat 4.4.4 - It works pretty well perfectly so to my mind there is no reason to go for any of the earlier ones.

Kitkat also lets you use the new Android Run Time (ART) rather than the older Dalvik system - That is a very technical thing and the experts seem to say that for older hardware (such as this) the difference may not be not huge. But ART (on newer phones & tablets) gives you a slightly slower boot-up time but supposedly (much) faster app performance. However not all apps are compatible with ART yet so "Your Mileage May Vary" as they say.

Bottom line - if you are going through the pain of loading CM at all, why would you not go to the newest and most up to date version?

Officially CM 10.2 is more established (and stable) but I've been using CM 11 (might as well have the latest) and any bugs are pretty minor and seem to get fixed quite fast, so I'd recommend that.

Not tried it myself but after some extensive research it seems that ART isn't really any faster on the Nook HD+ so you might as well stick to Dalvik and save yourself troubleshooting headaches - eg. if an app doesn't work, then is it because of ART or is it just not compatible with the Nook?

1st Aug 2014

All gone except for the Nook HD 7" 8GB, sold like hot cakes. Or hot nooks Hoping I get mine tomorrow.